If your company has not redesigned its website for more than five years, then chances are it is probably in need of some changes. As the speed of new technology rollouts continues to increase at a blinding clip, the worse it becomes for a website to remain stagnate. Things related to websites change at an accelerated rate, especially when considering how your website itself affects your SEO efforts. To make sure your website is up to date, here are three essential and useful tips to consider when redesigning your website.
Make Sure Your Website is Optimized for Mobile Devices
If your website has not been redesigned in quite some time, there is a high probability that it is not loading correctly on mobile devices. Mobile has become the most common way consumers browse the internet, with upwards of 50% of all Internet requests coming via mobile phones in 2018. Consumers use mobile devices an average of five hours each day, that’s an over 85% increase from 2018. To drive the point home, 70% of all web traffic now comes from mobile devices.
If your website is not optimized for mobile devices, you likely have a high bounce rate and a low conversion rate. To assure essential mobile compatibility, concentrate on the UX (user experience) design, avoid using flash as it won’t be available on most user’s mobile devices, instead it would be wise to focus on using HTML5. Be sure to space any buttons in a way that ensures your customers won’t spend half their time clicking the wrong link and zooming in on the site to be able to read the text.
Web Design with Both Form and Function
When considering a web design for your company, don’t just use a cookie-cutter template, make sure to design the website so it conveys your brand, and will load without errors. Use colors, language, typography, icons, and images that all are in line with your branding. What is it that you want your website to say to user’s when they visit? Do you want it to be informative and no-frills, or do you want vibrant colors and animations? This area is where doing market research is invaluable. Determine who your target audience is what they expect from a website when they visit.
Keep in mind that too many animations, sounds, large photographs, etc. can cause your website to load slower at a time where the average web user expects a website to load in less than three seconds or they bounce. Make sure the web host that your site will be on has low amounts of downtime and fast load speeds. Make sure your website is compatible with the major browsers, notably Google Chrome, which accounts for over half of browser market share. Safari, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge (formerly Internet Explorer) are the other highly used browsers on the internet; your website needs to be compatible with them all.
SEO and Web Design
Remember, all the SEO marketing your company engages in if your website has uninteresting or non-useful content. You are unlikely to see any visits convert into sales if the site can’t hold a customer’s attention. As previously stated, you should be sure to have a web host who is not down a lot. Search engines will notice if the links to your website are frequently dead.
Another change you should make to your website regards HTTP and its obsolescence. HTTP is no longer a viable option; your website should be using HTTPS. This point may seem small, but it can have a major effect on your SEO efforts. Google has announced that any website without HTTPS will be heavily penalized and users will be advised against visiting those sites.
So, if your website has not been redesigned for a few years take advantage of these tips to improve its performance. MosierData can help. Contact us here or call 863-687-0000 to find out more.